Karnival, Birthday Celebrations, and our Apartment

Stade had Karnival the weekend of March 1st.  We weren't quite sure what this meant but did hear that there was a parade practically outside our apartment so we joined the streets to check it out.  It was very entertaining.  One thing I have noticed is that wearing costumes is not a once-a-year Halloween event and there is an isle in most stores dedicated to costumes. 

Here is a small taste to the creativity of Stade folk on Karnival.  Also entertaining was that it is common practice for them all to drink while walking in the parade.  There was candy being tossed and, without fail, Cashton took one in the eye.  He got over it quickly when we let him eat it.

The only float - all other parade participants were walkers.



The smurfs! (Jason/Linds this place is meant for you!)



This past weekend we celebrated Ben and Katie's (co-worker and friend from Midland who is also on this assignment in Germany) birthdays.  The weather was unseasbonably warm - low 60's and we had two different BBQs at friends house.  We took our first train ride to get there.

Not sure why Cashton doesn't have a shirt on

Katie and Karis

To get a feel of local housing, here are a few pictures of our house.  Please note this is the entire house!  Not a single room more (unless you count the utility room downstairs where the lawn furniture and washer reside.  My biggest struggle is the lack of cupboards and closets to 'hide' things.  Overall, it cozy and will work just great while we are here.  The best part is that we are in the middle of the city so everything is just a step away.

Blue door is our front door - not all the windows are ours.  The bottom floor is usually for stores and the upstairs are the flats.

View from our bedroom window

Kitchen

Living Room

Kids bedroom - it was cute because our landlady actually furnished this room with a few stuffed animals, colorful toy storage totes, and this button rug.

The master bedroom.  Note the blankets and separate beds.  This is the common bedding and setup and each location we have stayed arrange it this way.  There are no blankets or sheets, just a fitted sheet on the bottom and a down comforter with duvet that you sleep with (Kyle - this is your kind of setup!)

Ben's birthday dinner night out!

Kristi and the birthday girl

Cashton with his new bike.  The most popular (and almost only bike for young kids) is this bike with no peddles. I have seen them as young as 1 1/2 years old keeping full balance zooming by you.  Cashton still needs a bit of practice.

Karis with her new friends. We are so lucky that the two houses next to us have kids Karis age so she played outside with them for about 6 hours on Saturday.  Just made me so happy to see her having fun - all without either of them being able to understand eachother.  You give a kid a ball, a swingset, a scooter, etc and they will play just great!  It still was funny though because even though the neighbor kids couldn't understand Karis they would still constantly talk directly to her and she would then do the same back to them.  They both would then just stare and start playing again neither really understanding the other.  I'm pretty confident she will start picking it up soon.